The 39th ICOHTEC Symposium will be held in Catalonia in mid-July next year. The main theme of the meeting will be Technology, the Arts and Industrial Culture. The aim is to examine technology in amultidisciplinary framework. The key questions are how technological development has interacted with design, architecture, the arts as well as popular culture and whether we can regard industrial culture as a melting pot of various influences. Reflecting on the theme of the previous conference we hope also to explore the role of consumers in this dialogue.Barcelona with its rich industrial history, outstanding architecture and ample collections of the arts will be an excellent site for examining the interactions of technology with the arts, structural and form design as well as culture in general. ICOHTEC welcomes individual paper and poster proposals as well as the submissions of sessions to this symposium. The tendency is to favour compact and coherent session proposals where presentations communicate with each others.

The programme committee suggests the following subthemes for the consideration of session organizers and contributors. The bullet points under the subthemes are simply examples of topics that could fit into the each subtheme.

Technology- Autonomous, communicating or integrated power in history- Society - the master or slave of technology?- The dependence and independence of technology from socio-economic and cultural factors- Examples of technological momentum or path dependence- Origins of technological innovations

Does technology drive the arts and architecture?- Representations of technology in the arts- Technological fundaments for the development of the arts and architecture:- Printing machines in creating modern literature for the masses- Was the industry of synthetic paints a requirement for impressionism?- The celluloid film - a precondition for cinematic art?

The significance of arts and architecture in technological development- Surrealistic technology- Representations of arts and architecture in technology

Technology and conceptions of beauty- Aesthetics of industrial design- Gendered concepts of technological beauty- Changing ideals about how technology should look

Components of industrial culture- Values, habits and group interests in industrial communities- Machines setting the pace for industrial culture- Design and cultural values- Analogies with the old, qualities of the new- The role of arts and architecture in industrial culture- Technology of popular culture: mass production of culture and culture for masses- Heritage in industry and industrial heritage

Technology in making environmental atmospheres- The effects of industrial pollution on art and architecture- Environmental heritage of technology, arts and architecture

Taste of the industry- Industrial arts and the exquisiteness of manufactured goods- The birth and development of industrial design- Mass production of kitsch and vulgar objects- Introduction of new materials and their impacts on the qualities of products

Consumers' impact on the dialogue between technology, arts and architecture- Consumer friendly or showy technology- Push or pull? Consumers' choice or producers' power- Inducements to buy: The role of arts and architecture

Technological literacy- Cultural differences in comprehending and appreciating technology- Multidisciplinarity in engineering and technical education- Are there national styles in technical education?

The committee will also consider submissions not directly related to the symposium theme as long as they can be regarded to be related to the history of technology broadly defined.

Proposal SubmissionsThe final deadline for all submissions is Tuesday 31 January 2012. Please, sign up to our online submission system, fill in a form and send your proposal through it. All proposals are to be submitted via our online system. The link to the system is available at our website:www.icohtec.org/annual-meeting/cfp-system/2012-barcelona/

If you have any questions related scientific programme, paper, poster or session proposals, please, do not hesitate to contact Jan Kunnas, the chair of the programme committee, via email jan.kunnas@eui.eu